1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to educational game apparatus and its use. In particular, it relates to a unique system which enables children to play a variety of existing popular board games while simultaneously being drilled in basic multiplication. It does this by supplanting the dice, spinners, and other random selection devices normally used in playing these games.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices exist for the random selection of arithmetic problems. The most common of these are flash cards. Each of these cards has an arithmetic problem printed on one side, and the answer printed on the opposite side. Flash cards are often used in classrooms, where students are asked to call out answers as they are shown by the teacher. Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,206,872 to Nason et al. and 3,374,559 to Smith disclose flash cards bearing complete multiplication equations, together with movable covering devices which are used to obscure different sections of the equations. This permits different types of problems to be presented using the same cards. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,040,048 to Lein and 4,247,895 to Weber disclose calculator-type electronic devices which can perform the electronic equivalent of flash card drill.
Prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,167,407 to Johnson, 1,300,315 to Wilder and 1,619,849 to Brittingham and Great Britain Pat. No. 758,251 to Peters disclose spinner devices used for the random selection of arithmetic problems. The problems selected by these devices are in the form of a first number, an arithmetic operation, and a second number. For example, twelve divided by two, or seven times five.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,315 to Wilder discloses a spinner device which is a random selector of arithmetic problems and also serves as a random number selector which determines how tokens are moved along pathways on an accompanying game board. The spinner device serves this dual function in the following way: The spinner has three concentric bands containing numbers, with the numbers aligned radially so that the spinner's pointer can select one number from each band simultaneously. The numbers in the outermost band are exactly divisible by the numbers in the innermost band, with the quotients, i.e. the numerical outcomes of these division operatioins, ranging from one to ten. In playing the accompanying board game, each turn begins with a player spinning the spinner and computing the quotient from the indicated numbers. The quotient then indicates the number of spaces that a game piece is to be moved on the gameboard's pathways.
This system, wherein the numerical outcome of an arithmetic operation determines the number of spaces moved on a gameboard, works satisfactorily when the operation is division. However, it does not work satisfactorily when the operation is multiplication. The reason is that the numerical outcomes of multiplication problems, i.e. the products, tend to have large and discontinuous values. This is true even when the multiplication is restricted to single digit factors. For example, the product of nine and nine is eighty-one, which would be a very large number of spaces to be counted out on a game board. (Although the spinner device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,300,315 is also used to present multiplication problems--numbers from the central band are multiplied by numbers from the innermost band--the products, which range from one to one hundred, do not serve to indicate game piece movements. Instead, they are used to determine whether points are to be added to a player's score.)
The problem of large and discontinuous values is solved in the present invention. The present invention includes a random selector device with which multiplication problems are posed and answered in a novel fashion, and wherein the answers have a range of values which is useful for playing a variety of existins board games. Additional advantages of the present invention over the prior art will become apparent below.